Journey faces the unique “challenge” of having an abundance of hit songs to include in their concert set lists. While some bands feel confined to performing a “greatest hits” set, Neal Schon expresses his desire to shake things up significantly.

In a recent discussion with Rick Beato, which you can watch below, the guitarist admits that Journey’s hits occupy half (or more) of the San Francisco band’s set list during a typical performance. As usual, he has a bold perspective on this matter. “If it was up to me, I wouldn’t [structure the set that way],” he states. “[But] it’s not. It will be sometime.”

“I enjoy surprising the audience; I really do. That’s more my approach,” he elaborates. “I admired how [Led] Zeppelin used to perform….they played the songs, but they didn’t play them exactly like the record. They jammed, incorporating all those segues and bits and pieces to transition into the song.”

‘The Riffs are Ass-Kicking and They’re Meant to be Played Live’

He mentions that he is brainstorming ideas with his longtime bandmate Jonathan Cain. “This upcoming tour, we’re finally going to dedicate some rehearsal time. I said, ‘Man, we’ve got all these fantastic riffs — even if they’re not hit songs — from albums we’ve created,'” he shares. “[They’re songs] that most people don’t really know, but the riffs are ass-kicking and they’re meant to be played live. So I want to find a way to utilize all of those bits and pieces — not to perform the entire song, because it didn’t turn out great as a song, but there are some ass-kicking riffs that I know will truly come [across] live.”

READ MORE: Ranking All 52 Journey Songs From the ’80s

‘It’s Going to Be a Very Different Show’

The Journey cofounder’s latest comments resonate with similar sentiments he expressed during an interview with Eddie Trunk in late September. “It’s going to be a very different show, and it’s going to include many of our albums,” he stated then. “[We] won’t go all the way back to the very beginning. But I’d say from ’78 onward, we’re going to explore deeper — and the sets are going to be much longer.”

What to Expect From Journey in 2026 and Beyond

As Schon informed Trunk, the band has “a lot of material” coming starting in the new year. “We have about 120 shows and we’ll probably add more,” he said. “Half of [them will be] in ’26 and the other half [of the concerts will follow] in ’27.”

They will also begin the process of bidding farewell to Cain, who announced in October that he will undertake his final tours with Journey in 2026 and 2027. He intends to focus entirely on his solo career from that point onward. “I feel a calling there,” he revealed at that time. The keyboardist is also planning to release a new solo EP by the end of this year. “We will have an amazing couple of years,” Schon remarked after his bandmate outlined his exit strategy. However, as fans might anticipate, he won’t be putting down his guitar. “I’m nowhere near done!”

Journey’s first confirmed concert of 2026 is scheduled for April 25 at the annual Stagecoach Music Festival.

Watch Neal Schon’s Interview With Rick Beato